A Cornwall woman was forced to drive 94 miles to deposit a £900 ($1,215) HMRC cheque after Lloyds Banking Group refused to process it at her local Post Office — a policy change she called 'backward thinking' that risks cutting off rural communities from basic financial services.
Annabel Yates, from Crackington Haven in North Cornwall, received the tax refund cheque from HM Revenue and Customs earlier this year. She first tried depositing it through the Lloyds mobile app, but the cheque would not scan, BBC News reported.
When the app failed, Yates took the cheque to her nearest Post Office. Staff informed her that Lloyds Banking Group customers could no longer deposit cheques through the Post Office, a change in policy the bank introduced in January 2026.
That left her with two options. She could post the cheque using Lloyds' freepost deposit service or drive to a physical branch. Yates rejected the postal route.
A £900 HMRC cheque and a 90-mile drive. Lloyds Bank’s app failed to scan a smooth-edged cheque, exposing the harsh reality of the 2026 Post Office service cut.#LloydsBank#Bankinghttps://t.co/sjAt9MbbxI
'I did not want a cheque in the post for such a large amount of money when you are not sure it would actually reach its destination,' she told the BBC.
So she drove 94 miles (150 km) to the nearest Lloyds branch in Truro.
'I think the bank's theory is everything could be done on an app and that's just not always the case,' Yates said. 'Back in the day, Lloyd's ethos was to make banking easy. I think this is a reversal of that.'
She accused the policy of having 'disenfranchised the rural population' and urged the bank to reconsider.
Yates is not alone. Joanna Bickersteth, postmistress at Marshgate Post Office near Boscastle, told the BBC that the case was far from an anomaly. Many customers have been left 'frustrated' by the loss of cheque deposit services, she said, adding that cheques were still 'used a great deal' in the area.
Source: International Business Times UK
